Sample Writing and Language Set 1

Program or exam: SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10

Passage content: Careers

Text complexity: Lower

Questions 1 through 11 are based on the following passage and supplementary material.

Passage

A Life in Traffic

A subway system is expanded to provide service to a growing suburb. A bike‑sharing program is adopted to encourage nonmotorized transportation. [Q1] To alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area, stoplight timing is coordinated. When any one of these changes [Q2] occur, it islikely the result of careful analysis conducted by transportation planners.

The work of transportation planners generally includes evaluating current transportation needs, assessing the effectiveness of existing facilities, and improving those facilities or [Q3] they design new ones. Most transportation planners work in or near cities, [Q4] but some are employed in rural areas. Say, for example, a large factory is built on the outskirts of a small town.Traffic to and from that location would increase at the beginning and end of work shifts. The transportation [Q5] planner’s job, might involve conducting a traffic count to determine the daily number of vehicles traveling on the road to the new factory. If analysis of the traffic count indicates that there is more traffic than the [Q6] current road as it is designed at this timecan efficiently accommodate, the transportation planner might recommend widening the road to add another lane.

Transportation planners work closely with a number of community stakeholders, such as government officials and other interested organizations and individuals. [Q7] Next,representatives from the local public health department might provide input in designing a network of trails and sidewalks to encourage people to walk more. [Q8] According to the American Heart Association, walking provides numerous benefits related to health and well-being. Members of the Chamber of Commerce might share suggestions about designing transportation and parking facilities to support local businesses.

[Q9] People who pursue careers in transportation planning have a wide variety of educational backgrounds. A two‑year degree in transportation technology may be sufficient for some entry‑level jobs in the field. Most jobs, however, require at least a bachelor’s degree; majors of transportation planners are [Q10] varied, including fields such as urban studies, civil engineering, geography, or transportation and logistics management. For many positions in the field, a master’s degree is required.

Transportation planners perform critical work within the broader field of urban and regional planning. As of 2010, there were approximately 40,300 urban and regional planners employed in the United States. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts steady job growth in this field, [Q11] projecting that 16 percent of new jobs in all occupations will be related to urban and regional planning.Population growth and concerns about environmental sustainability are expected to spur the need for transportation planning professionals.

Question 1.

Which choice best maintains the sentence pattern already established in the paragraph?

A. NO CHANGE (To alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area, stoplight timing is coordinated.)

B. Coordinating stoplight timing can help alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area.

C. Stoplight timing is coordinated to alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area.

D. In a congested downtown area, stoplight timing is coordinated to alleviate rush hour traffic jams.

答案：C

考点：平行结构

分析：A中to alleviate 需要找逻辑主语，stoplight timing 做逻辑主语，

句子意思错误；此题考三个句子的平行，BD中的结构与前2句不平

行。

与旧sat对比：难度加大；旧sat中只考句内平行，此题考句间平行。

Question 2.

A. NO CHANGE (occur, it is)

B. occur, they are

C. occurs, they are

D. occurs, it is

答案：D

考点：主谓一致，代词指代

分析：any one 为单数，所以AB中occur错误； C中的they 指代any

one 错误。

与旧sat对比：无变化，所考知识点在旧sat中也是重点。

Question 3.

A. NO CHANGE (they design)

B. to design

C. designing

D. design

答案：C

考点：平行结构

分析：A中or前后不平行，后面是句子，前面是分词短语； B中or后面

to design 与前面improving 不平行； D中design 与

improving 不平行。

与旧sat对比：平行结构，与旧sat考法相同。

Question 4.

Which choice results in the most effective transition to the information that follows in the paragraph?

A. NO CHANGE (but some are employed in rural areas.)

B. where job opportunities are more plentiful.

C. and the majority are employed by government agencies.

D. DELETE the underlined portion and end the sentence with a period.

答案：A

考点：文章结构

分析：此题考了文章的逻辑。解题重点在后文未划线的Say, for example, a large factory is built on the outskirts of a small town.这里举例子说到了outskits, 所以前面必然要说到郊区，答案只有A 符合。

与旧sat对比：属于旧sat的IP题。

Question 5.

A. NO CHANGE (planner’s job,)

B. planner’s job

C. planners job,

D. planners job

答案：B

考点：主谓一致，所有格

分析：AC中主谓之间用逗号分割，错误；D 中所有格使用错误。

与旧sat对比：主谓一致同样是旧sat的重点，旧sat考过所有格的重复。

Question 6.

A. NO CHANGE (current road as it is designed at this time)

B. current design of the road right now

C. road as it is now currently designed

D. current design of the road

答案：D

考点：用词重复

分析：A 中current与at this time 重复； B中current与right now

重复； C中now 和currently 重复。

与旧sat对比：旧sat中同样考察。

Question 7.

A. NO CHANGE (Next,)

B. For instance,

C. Furthermore,

D. Similarly,

答案：B

考点：文章结构

分析：划线后面的内容是对划线前的内容的举例，所以应该是B。

与旧sat对比：属于旧sat的IP题。

Question 8.

The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?

A. Kept, because it provides supporting evidence about the benefits of walking.

B. Kept, because it provides an additional example of a community stakeholder with whom transportation planners work.

C. Deleted, because it blurs the paragraph’s focus on the community stakeholders with whom transportation planners work.

D. Deleted, because it doesn’t provide specific examples of what the numerous benefits of walking are.

答案：C

考点：文章结构

分析：此句说讲内容没有直接关系，添加以后模糊了文章的焦点。

与旧sat对比：此种类型的题目属于新题型，在旧sat中没有一模一样的考察方式； 但是此类题目在ACT考试中大量出现，且考察形式完全一样，考生可以将ACT中的类似题目挑出来练习。

Question 9.

A. NO CHANGE (People who pursue careers in transportation planning)

B. People, who pursue careers in transportation planning,

C. People who pursue careers, in transportation planning,

D. People who pursue careers in transportation planning,

答案：A

考点：标点的使用

分析：此题难点在B，B选项从语法角度讲没有错误，只是添加2 个逗号之

后，句子被切断，完整性不如A；C中将介词短语用双逗号隔开，没

有必要；D中逗号将主谓隔开，错误。

与旧sat对比：考察方式相同

Question 10.

A. NO CHANGE (varied, including)

B. varied, and including

C. varied and which include

D. varied, which include

答案：A

考点：平行； which 的使用

分析：A 中and 后面的including 无平行对象；C中 and后面的which

无平行对象； D中which 指代人不对。

与旧sat对比：考察方式一样。

Question 11.

Which choice completes the sentence with accurate data based on the graph ?

A. NO CHANGE (projecting that 16 percent of new jobs in all occupations will be related to urban and regional planning.)

B. warning, however, that job growth in urban and regional planning will slow to 14 percent by 2020.

C. predicting that employment of urban and regional planners will increase 16 percent between 2010 and 2020.

D. indicating that 14 to 18 percent of urban and regional planning positions will remain unfilled.

答案：C

考点：图表

分析：此题的解题关键在图表的标题 :Urban and Regional Planners Percent Increase in Employment, Projected 2010-2020, 所以整个图表都是将percent increase，符合的只有C。

与旧sat对比：旧sat无此种题目。

Sample Writing and Language Set 2

Passage

Program or exam: SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10

Passage content: Humanities

Text complexity: Medium

Questions 12 through 22 are based on the following passage.

Dong Kingman: Painter of Cities

A 1954 documentary about renowned watercolor painter Dong Kingman shows the artist sitting on a stool on Mott Street in New York City’s Chinatown. A crowd of admiring spectators [Q12] watched as Kingman squeezes dollops of paint from several tubes into a tin watercolor [Q13] box, from just a few primary colors, Kingman creates dozens of beautiful hues as he layers the translucent paint onto the paper on his easel. Each stroke of the brush and dab of the sponge transforms thinly sketched outlines into buildings, shop signs, and streetlamps. The street scene Kingman begins composing in this short film is very much in keeping with the urban landscapes for which he is best known.

Kingman was keenly interested in landscape painting from an early age. In Hong Kong, where Kingman completed his schooling, teachers at that time customarily assigned students a formal “school name.” His interest was so keen, in fact, that he was named after it. The young boy who had been Dong Moy Shu became Dong Kingman. The name Kingman was selected for its two [Q14] parts, “king” and “man”;Cantonese for “scenery” and “composition.” As Kingman developed as a painter, his works were often compared to [Q15] paintings by Chinese landscape artists dating back to C E 960, a time when a strong tradition of landscape painting emerged in Chinese art.Kingman, however, [Q16] vacated from that tradition in a number of ways, most notably in that he chose to focus not on natural landscapes, such as mountains and rivers, but on cities. [Q17]

[Q18] His fine brushwork conveys detailed street-level activity: a peanut vendor pushing his cart on the sidewalk, a pigeon pecking for crumbs around a fire [Q19] hydrant, an old man tending to a baby outside a doorway. His broader brush strokes and sponge-painted shapes create majestic city skylines,with skyscrapers towering in the background,bridges connecting neighborhoods on either side of a river, and [Q20] delicately painted creatures, such as a tiny, barely visible cat prowling in the bushes of a park. To art critics and fans alike, these city scenes represent the innovative spirit of twentieth-century urban Modernism.

During his career, Kingman exhibited his work [Q21] internationally. He garneredmuch acclaim. In 1936, a critic described one of Kingman’s solo exhibits as “twenty of the freshest, most satisfying watercolors that have been seen hereabouts in many a day.” [Q22]

Question 12.

A. NO CHANGE (watched)

B. had watched

C. would watch

D. watches

答案：D

考点：时态

分析：此题考察时态，划线部分很短，所以必须根据未划线部分判断，由

creates可判断用一般现在时。

与旧sat对比：考察方式一样。

Question 13.

A. NO CHANGE (box, from just a few primary colors,)

B. box. From just a few primary colors,

C. box from just a few primary colors,

D. box, from just a few primary colors

答案：B

考点：句子连接

分析：ACD 中句与句的连接全部都没有用连词，所以错误。而B中 From

前面用了句号，将其切割成2个句子，可以不用连词。

与旧sat对比：在旧sat中同样由考到，但难度比此题要小。

Question 14.

A. NO CHANGE (parts, “king” and “man”;)

B. parts: “king” and “man,”

C. parts “king” and “man”;

D. parts; “king” and “man”

答案：B

考点：标点符号

分析：此题根据“分号分隔的是完整的句子”这一点直接排除ACD，因为此

3个选项中分号后面都不是句子。

与旧sat对比：标点符号在旧sat中同样有所考察。

Question 15.

A. NO CHANGE (paintings by Chinese landscape artists)

B. Chinese landscape artists

C. painters of Chinese landscapes

D. artists

答案：A

考点：比较

分析：根据比较对象对等，his works 比较的一定是作品。B中和artists

比； C中和painters 比；D中和artists 比。

与旧sat对比：考察形式和难度一模一样。

Question 16. (Follow link back to location in passage.)

A. NO CHANGE (vacated)

B. evacuated

C. departed

D. retired

答案：C

考点：单词的辨识

分析：此题完全考察考生词汇的掌握程度，且考察的较为细致。

与旧sat对比：旧sat中也有对词汇的考察，但多出现在短线题中，例如经典的swam和swum的考察。新sat中对于4个单词的考察尚属首次。

Question 17 refers to the order of sentences in paragraph 2, which is repeated below with sentence numbering for your reference.

Paragraph 2

[1] Kingman was keenly interested in landscape painting from an early age. [2] In Hong Kong, where Kingman completed his schooling, teachers at that time customarily assigned students a formal “school name.” [3] His interest was so keen, in fact, that he was named after it. [4] The young boy who had been Dong Moy Shu became Dong Kingman. [5] The name Kingman was selected for its twoparts, “king” and “man”;Cantonese for “scenery” and “composition.” [6] As Kingman developed as a painter, his works were often compared topaintings by Chinese landscape artists dating back to C E 960, a time when a strong tradition of landscape painting emerged in Chinese art.[7] Kingman, however,vacated from that tradition in a number of ways, most notably in that he chose to focus not on natural landscapes, such as mountains and rivers, but on cities. [Q17]

Question 17. (Each reference to a sentence in the question and answer choices is a link back to that sentence in the paragraph above.)

To make this paragraph most logical,sentence 3 should be placed

A. where it is now.

B. before sentence 1.

C. after sentence 1.

D. after sentence 4.

答案：C

考点：句子排序

分析：此题类似与托福阅读中的“插入句子题”； 因为此句是在讲interest，而第1句也是在讲interest，其他句与interest 无关，所以必然是放在第1句前面或后面。而如果放在前面, 那么his 无指代。 所以必须放后面。

与旧sat对比：旧sat很少涉及，此题在ACT语法中涉及较多，且考察形式一致，考生可以用ACT相关题目练习。

Question 18.

Which choice most effectively establishes the main topic of the paragraph?

A. Kingman is considered a pioneer of the California Style school of painting.

B. Although cities were his main subject, Kingman did occasionally paint natural landscapes.

C. In his urban landscapes, Kingman captures the vibrancy of crowded cities.

D. In 1929 Kingman moved to Oakland, California, where he attended the Fox Art School.

答案：C

考点：文章主旨

分析：做此类型的题目，必须将所涉及到的段落读完理解。作为主旨句，必须起到总启全段的作用，AD所讲内容与段落内容无关；B讲的是natural landscapes, 而后文讲的是city, 排除。

与旧sat对比：此题在旧sat中有所涉及。

Question 19.

A. NO CHANGE (hydrant,)

B. hydrant—

C. hydrant:

D. hydrant

答案：A

考点：平行

分析：a peanut vendor, a pigeon, an old man 三者之间的平行，符合平行的只有A。

与旧sat对比：旧sat中大量考到平行，但此题将平行放在冒号之后，且平行的内容很长。此种考法很少见。

Question 20.

The writer wants to complete the sentence with a third example of a detail Kingman uses to create his majestic city skylines. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

A. NO CHANGE (delicately painted creatures, such as a tiny, barely visible cat prowling in the bushes of a park.)

B. exquisitely lettered street and storefront signs.

C. other details that help define Kingman’s urban landscapes.

D. enormous ships docking at busy urban ports.

答案：D

考点：平行

分析：简单的平行结构，D选项与前面的skyscrapers towering in the background, bridges connecting neighborhoods on either side of a river 构成平行结构。

与旧sat对比：旧sat大量考察平行结构，但将平行放与with之后，非常少见。

Question 21.

Which choice most effectively combines the sentences at the underlined portion?

A. internationally, and Kingman also garnered

B. internationally; from exhibiting, he garnered

C. internationally but garnered

D. internationally, garnering

答案：D

考点：简洁

分析：A中and 后面的Kingman多余； B中from exhibiting 多余，前面已

经说了exhibited;  C中 but 错误。

与旧sat对比:简洁性问题在旧sat中同样考察。

Question 22.

The writer wants to conclude the passage with a sentence that emphasizes an enduring legacy of Kingman’s work. Which choice would best accomplish this goal?

A. Although Kingman’s work might not be as famous as that of some other watercolor painters, such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Edward Hopper, it is well regarded by many people.

B. Since Kingman’s death in 2000, museums across the United States and in China have continued to ensure that his now‑iconic landscapes remain available for the public to enjoy.

C. The urban landscapes depicted in Kingman’s body of work are a testament to aptness of the name chosen for Kingman when he was just a boy.

D. Kingman’s work was but one example of a long-lasting tradition refreshed by an innovative artist with a new perspective.

答案：B

考点：文章总结

分析：题目要求是emphasizes an enduring legacy of Kingman’s work.  A中的not be as famous, D 中的but one example 都没有起到“emphasizes an enduring legacy”的作用。BC对比，选B。因为B说“自从2000年，美国和中国的博物馆一直展示它的作品” 和题目要求“enduring legacy”相符合。

与旧sat对比：此题在旧sat中同样涉及到。